Notre Dame girls' season ends against unbeaten Dexter

SIKESTON -- Jane Morrill started the second half on fire, helping Notre Dame mount a comeback against the top-ranked team in Class 4.

But every time the Bulldogs girls basketball team rallied, Dexter would answer with a critical basket to pad its lead.

The Bearcats finally put away the Bulldogs with an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to capture the Class 4 District 1 championship Friday with the 63-54 win.

"That's Dexter for you," Morrill said of the Bearcats' rally-killing shots. "It's a little frustrating, but we've got to try to overcome it as much as possible. It almost makes you work harder, but you've got to get over that."

Morrill attacked the basket in the third quarter, scoring three baskets in close to cut Dexter's lead to 30-28. But Katelyn Heil answered with a 3-pointer and another bucket to push the lead back to 35-28.

"We got within two and we'd make a silly pass and turnover and they'd hit a 3 and momentum would change again," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "It seemed like once we had an opportunity, we didn't take full advantage of it."

By the end of the third quarter, Dexter had rebuilt a 10-point advantage. Notre Dame committed eight turnovers in the third quarter alone.

Notre Dame's Allyson Bradshaw dribbles around Dexter's Cathryn Heil during Friday's Class 4 District 1 championship game in Sikeston.

But Notre Dame (21-6) refused to wilt. The Bulldogs cut the deficit to four points when Morrill hit a basket with 3 minutes, 41 seconds left in the fourth.

This time it was Ashlee Taylor who jammed the dagger into the Bulldogs' hopes. Taylor hit 1 of 2 free throws then drained a 3-pointer to pad Dexter's lead to eight points. Notre Dame would not get within eight points after that.

"We tried to make it not frustrating," Notre Dame senior Alex Fowler said of Dexter's repeated answers to her team's charges. "We had to keep boosting each other up and saying, 'No big deal. We can always come back and get it back.'"

Dexter (26-0) opened a 14-point lead in the second quarter, but Notre Dame cut it to six with a 10-2 run to end the quarter.

Morrill kept the Bulldogs rolling to start the third, which was the opposite of when the teams met Feb. 9 in Dexter. Morrill was held scoreless in the second half of that game, but she scored 14 of her team-high 20 points after halftime Friday.

"She's just a tough player," Dexter coach Chad Allen said. "At our place, we shut her down the second half. But tonight, she was determined to step up and play big and she did have a big night. We tried to get physical with her inside, try to wear her down a little bit."

Peters said she challenged Morrill to draw contact instead of settling for jump shots.

"The last time we played Dexter, she was fading away a lot," Peters said. "She didn't want to have that contact. So we knew going into this game she was really going to have to take it to them and we've been stressing that."

The Bearcats were able to seal the win from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, going 9 of 12. Heil led the Bearcats with 22 points, including 10 in the third quarter.

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Notre Dame 8 14 13 19 -- 54

Dexter 14 14 17 18 -- 63

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:NOTRE DAME (54) -- Alex Fowler 6, Emily Brumitt 7, Allyson Bradshaw 8, Jane Morrill 20, Meghan Dohogne 3, Brooke Bohnert 10. FG 22, FT 8-11, F 18. (3-pointers: Bradshaw 1, Brumitt 1. Fouled out: None)

DEXTER (63) -- Katelyn Heil 22, Jill Temples 5, Kayla Joyner 3, Ashlee Taylor 17, Abbie Warren 12, Cathryn Heil 4. FG 20, FT 15-21, F 12. (3-pointers: Taylor 3, K. Heil 4, Joyner 1. Fouled out: None)